Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas introduced a replacement for the city’s prior conversion therapy ban on Tuesday. 

Lucas and Councilman Johnathan Duncan developed a new ordinance with the LGBTQ Commission to ban “dangerous and life-threatening therapeutic practices.” The proposed law would outlaw non-medically sanctioned therapies to be performed for money, which could include conversion therapy. 

Conversion therapy, also called reparative therapy, is counseling that encourages a biblical view of sexuality and gender. If patients want to embrace their biological sex or are seeking help with unwanted struggles with same-sex attraction, a counselor might use this method to help them achieve this goal. Making the practice illegal effectively bars Christian counselors from helping their patients and giving advice that aligns with their faith.  

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in March that Colorado’s conversion therapy ban was unconstitutional in the Chiles v. Salazar case because it violated First Amendment rights. The decision invalidates several local and state conversion therapy bans, making the previous Kansas City law difficult to uphold in court. 

According to the proposed Kansas City ordinance, “Dangerous and life-threatening therapeutic practices means any practice, treatment, or service that increases the risk of suicidal ideation, depression, or self-harm, and that is provided for the purpose of treating, curing, changing, or eliminating a person’s behavior or condition that is not recognized as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.” 

Supporters of conversion therapy bans, including Lucas, claim the counseling is damaging and causes patients to commit suicide. However, many people associate abusive practices such as electroshock therapy, lobotomies, etc., to be common methods in present-day conversion therapy, but these practices are long abandoned, according to Alliance Defending Freedom.  

Banning so-called conversion therapy makes it impossible for children struggling with unwanted gender dysphoria and same-sex attraction to receive the help they need.  

“When a teen comes to me and they state that they’re struggling with their sex or sexuality, the state has dictated to me that I’m only allowed to help them go through the process of change in one way,” Christian counselor Kaley Chiles from the Supreme Court case said in a previous article by The Lion.  

“If they were a minor who were to come to me and say, ‘I actually don’t want to go down that path, I would like to grow in greater alignment in my body and become comfortable,’ then that’s something I actually cannot engage those clients in conversations about. 

The ordinance proposing a new conversion therapy ban for Kansas City was proposed just 12 days after the prior ban on conversion therapy was repealed at the May 21 City Council meeting.  The council, including Lucas who voted ‘yes,’ passed the repeal 7-5 largely because of an active lawsuit against the city. 

“With our revised ban, Kansas City will have the strongest new municipal protections in the country, outlawing discredited therapeutic practices that have harmed generations of youth and adults,” Lucas wrote in a press release announcing the new ordinance. 

Kansas City residents and therapists frustrated by the council’s decision accused Lucas of not fighting for LGBTQ+ people. 

“Although we are prepared for them, I’d hope for no ‘pro-suicide’ legal challengers to this fair, reasonable, and humane legislation,” Lucas said in a press release. 

Lucas’ social media posts about the ordinance received overwhelmingly negative comments on X. 

“If keeping people safe from harm is so important, why can’t our prosecutors do a better job keeping criminals off the streets?” one person wrote. “Oh, that’s right, this doesn’t fit the liberal agenda.” 

“Argentina already experiencing a taste of Quinton’s KC!” another wrote, regarding Argentina’s arrival to Kansas City for the FIFA World Cup. “Double shooting and murder right up the road from Origin Hotel. ¡Vamos!” 

“This is how Democrats FORCE their views on others,” wrote a third. “These are the lies they use to mandate their deviancy. … THIS is why Missouri despises the Democrat party!!!!” 

Users were slightly more supportive to a similar post on Facebook by Lucas about the ordinance, but were confused by the proposed law’s vague language.  

“I have absolutely no idea what you are banning?” one person commented. 

“The language here is too vague and does not make clear where the line is drawn and what ‘therapies’ are technically allowed to continue,” another wrote.  

Therapists in violation of the proposed law could be fined $1,000 for each incident as punishment, and the person’s license could be suspended or revoked.  

The City Council will have its first reading of the ordinance at 2 p.m. June 11. 

(Photo credit: Mayor Quinton Lucas’ Facebook (modified))